Finding a Place
by IndependentNoises
Summary: Katya and her best friend, Lily, are 7th years and preparing to go out into the world. They soon learn that the world often throws you more than you can handle. That is what love is for, though it happens between the most unexpected people. SB/OC JP/LE
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first fan-fic. I hope it is pretty good. Review review review!!**

_Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling except Katya and family._

Chapter 1

"Up, Miss Katya, up!"

"Ugh, Rodo go away." Katya moaned.

"I'm sorry Miss Katya. Mistress Bonaccio say up."

"FINE," she moaned, throwing her sheets of her, "I'm up."

Katya closed her eyes as she stumbled out of bed. Feeling her way across the room, Katya managed to throw on some skinny jeans and a light sweater before she ran into her dresser. She fell dramatically back onto her bead and groaned. Instantly, Rodo, the family house elf, was at her side.

"You OK Miss Katya?" He asked worriedly.

"I'm fine Rodo." Katya said. She kept her eyes closed until she was sure Rodo was gone. Finally she got up and piled her thick pale blonde hair into a big tangled mess on the top of her head. She stuck a few pins in at random and sighed. For the thousandth time she wished that her hair was smooth and fine. She was forced to wear it long because of the thickness.

She examined her big ice blue eyes and long but small turn up nose. Her lips pursed as she prodded her spattering of freckles with her wand. She knew nothing would happen but she still wished that her skin was an even tan.

Once she had decided that she looked presentable enough, Katya walked slowly down the stairs. She prepared herself mentally for her mother's tirade about something or another. Mrs. Bonaccio had lost her gentle attitude years ago when Katya's sister, Neeli, was killed. It came soon enough.

"Katyana Tay Bonaccio, how can you be so selfish?" Mrs. Bonaccio screeched, "Your father was ready to take you back to that dumb school of yours an hour ago. You couldn't even get out of bed until now."

At this point Katya tuned her out. She thought back to when her mother was happy. They used to have so much fun; going on vacations or just to the park. Then, Neeli had died while Katya was being taken by her mother and father to Kings Cross station for her first year at Hogwarts. From then on, anything that had to do with Hogwarts or Katya was unmentionable around her mother.

Katya went back up to her room and dragged her truck downstairs. She was glad she had packed the night before. 'A little less time I have to spend with my mom.' She thought.

The ride with her dad to Kings Cross was silent. He dropped her off at the entrance to the station. Besides helping her to get out her bag, Mr. Bonaccio was quiet. As Katya walked off, he did not even say good bye. Rather, he got into his car as quickly as possible and drove off.

As soon as Katya got to platform 9 ¾, she looked around for her best friend Lily Evans. She spotted her auburn hair over a big crowd of first years and hurried over.

"Lily!" She yelled, pushing past the throng of eleven year olds.

"Katya! Oh my gosh I haven't seen you all summer. How are you? Did you have a good summer? Are you excited to be back? I can't believe we are in our seventh year!"

Katya stopped her as she took a breath for her next question.

"Whoa girl. One question at a time! I am pretty good. My summer was awful with my parents. OF COURSE I'm excited to be back. Now how about you?"

Lily sighed, "My summer was awesome and I'm doing great. But do you want to hear the most exciting news? I'm head girl!! Can you believe it? Isn't that great? It has only been my dream since forever!"

Katy laughed at her enthusiastic friend. 'I wonder who head boy is.' She thought. As if in answer to her question she heard a loud voice over the rumble of the crowd.

"YOU'RE head boy James? Lily is going to freak out. Man, I can't wait to see her face."

Katya turned towards the voice to see her long time friend, James Potter, and his best friend and her worst enemy, Sirius Black, standing by a nearby pillar. Thankfully, Lily did not hear a word that was just said. As she continued to babble on in her excitement, Katya pulled her over to where James and Sirius where standing.

"Hey James." Katya said, "How was your summer? Did you get any special positions?"

James grinned at her and winked, obviously catching on that she knew he was head boy.

"No nothing super important." He replied. Before he could continue, Sirius cut him off.

"What Bonaccio, no hello for me?"

Katya rolled her eyes at him and replied, "If I thought that you might have enough intelligence to carry on a normal conversation, I would say hello. Unfortunately for you, I don't."

She turned her back on him and dragged Lily back over to their trunks.

"We have to get on the train if we want to get seats." She explained, completely ignoring the accusing looks Lily was sending her. Lily thought that Katya should be nice to Sirius. 'She obviously doesn't understand what a complete git he is.' Katya thought.

Katya and Lily managed to find an empty compartment with little difficulty but the train was filling up fast. Not long after they had gotten settled then sure enough, James and Sirius showed up. With them was Remus, the nice one of their friends, and Peter, the tag-along.

"Hello ladies," Sirius said, "Mind if we join?" Of course he did not wait for an answer before plunking himself down in the seat opposite Katya. James sat across from Lily with Remus next to Katya.

Lily barely glanced at James before doing a double take back to the badge pinned on his chest. She gulped audibly before looking decidedly angry.

"YOU…" She screeched, "You are head boy?"

James nodded, "yup."

"How could Dumbledore make you head boy? You are the worst prankster in the school. You never follow any rules. How is this happening to me?"

James looked affronted, "I am not that bad. I get good grades. I didn't fail any of my O.W.L.s. I am fairly nice to every one. Well, everyone but Snivellus."

"Don't call him that." Lily snapped.

"He called you a mudblood and you still stand up for him." James said in disgust.

They continued to bicker as the train left the station. Sirius turned to Katya.

"So Bonaccio, how's it going?"

"Don't look at me. Don't talk to me. Don't touch me. Just don't interact with me and you won't get hurt." Katya replied testily.

"Ouch Bonaccio," Sirius replied. "Who put a bee in your bonnet? Come over hear and I can help you get it out."

"You are just so annoying." Katya made a noise of frustration. "Can't you go five minutes without making a sexual reference?"

"Well," Sirius replied, "I am the sexiest and most wanted man at Hogwarts. Why shouldn't I?"

"A… you are not a man. B… you are not sexy. C… It is no wonder your family sent you out. No one would be able to stand you because you are so god-damned immature." Katya felt a little bad about bringing his family into it. She knew it wasn't his fault they disowned him.

"You know what Bonaccio," Sirius replied angrily, "I wouldn't be surprised if your sister ran away to commit suicide. No one would want to live if you had gotten to them. You see, you have the tendency to take away any fun and replace it with anger. No one would want you as a sister or daughter."

The whole compartment had gone silent as Sirius shouted the angry words. Katya's eyes filled with tears. She wiped at them furiously before giving a stifled sob and running silently out of the compartment. She would not cry in front of Sirius. She would not let him see that he got to her.

Lily stood up.

"You went a little too far this time Black." She said angrily. She glared at him and then at James before stalking out of the compartment after Katya. Remus looked around.

"Do you really know how much those words hurt her Sirius? I don't think you understand the situation. That was not the right thing to say to her."

Sirius kept his face calm. He didn't want to let Remus see that he was ashamed of what he had said. Inside, he squirmed. He guessed that he pushed it a little too much. He sunk back in his seat as Remus too followed Katya.

Lily found Katya curled up in the corner of an empty compartment. Katya's eyes were red and puffy and her nose was running. Lily sighed and pulled out a hanky. Katya blew her nose and blinked up at Lily. She sat down and pulled Katya into a hug. Lily was the only one who knew the real story about Neeli. Lily was the only one who really understood how Katya felt. So, the two of them sat there for a while until Remus found them.

"Katya," Remus said, "I apologize to you from Sirius because I have a feeling you won't get an apology from him."

Katya sniffled and nodded her head in thanks.

"Just wondering, why do you hate Sirius so much?" Remus asked.

Katya stifled a sob.

"I mean," Remus said, "If you don't want to talk about it…"

"No," Katya said quietly, "That's OK. You should know. You are one of my best friends. You see, it all started before my first year at Hogwarts…"

_SO… How was it? I hope you like the cliff. You will find out Katya's story the next chapter. OK. Press that little button at the bottom… REVIEW!! Please. I want to know how it is. Don't flame me to badly please._

_Lady Adeline of Masbolle_


	2. Chapter 2

**So this is chapter 2! Okay so I know Sirius is being all annoying but don't worry, this is NOT a Sirius bashing story. He will get better. BTW... disclaimers on first page of story. **

Chapter 2

_Before: _

_"No," Katya said quietly, "That's OK. You should know. You are one of my best friends. You see, it all started before my first year at Hogwarts..."_

Present time in third person. Katya's 1st year at Hogwarts:

Katya was up before her alarm even went off. She looked around at her alarm clock, wondering what time it was. The little green numbers read 6:30. 'Wow,' She thought, 'I didn't think I could wake up this early on a Saturday.'

She threw off her covers and slid quietly onto her shag carpet. Of course, because she was trying to be quiet, she stepped on a squeaky floorboard, gasped, and jumped back loudly. Instantly, her family house elf, Rodo, was at her door. He looked in suspiciously. Katya waved her hand that she was OK and put a finger to her lips. Rodo nodded and disappeared once more.

Katya had decided a long time ago that Rodo was extremely cautious about anything hurting Katya or her little sister, Neeli. So, taking care to be quieter, she threw on some clothes, piled up her long thick blonde hair and tiptoed downstairs. Katya made her way down the hall way and was almost into her kitchen when...

"BOOOOO!!"

"AGH!! Neeli I'm going to get you."

Katya turned on her mischievous little sister and chased her back down the hallway. She saw Neeli turn the corner suddenly and before she could stop herself, slid on her socks past the open doorway and off her feet.

"Haha Katya," Neeli laughed, "I get you every time with that one."

Katya just groaned and rubbed her sore butt. Neeli giggled, amused, and skip back down the hall into the kitchen. Katya sat up and sighed. She knew for sure that her parents were awake now.

Katya managed to keep out of trouble for the rest of her time at home. She did not wish to go to Hogwarts being as black and blue as she knew Neeli could get her. She was still sad that when it was time to go, Neeli could not come to Kings Cross. There just was not enough room with all of the school supplies Katya had bought in Diagon Alley. So she just hugged her little sister good bye and whispered,

"Be good. Don't do anything stupid. Just remember that you will come to Hogwarts in only four years."

Neeli nodded and Katya knew that she was just trying to hold back her tears. The sisters had always been close and separation for more than even two weeks was rare.

It did not take Katya and her parents long to get to Kings Cross. Once there, Katya kissed them goodbye and watched as they drove off in their rented car. Sure she would miss her parents but Hogwarts was going to be a blast.

Katya knew how to get onto platform 9 ¾. Her parents had explained that to her when she first got her letter. She walked confidently up to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Well, as confidently as she could, lugging her heavy trunk with both hands. Grabbing a trolley, she glanced around to make sure nobody was looking at her and headed towards the barrier.

"Hey, excuse me." Someone shouted.

Katya turned around. A girl with pretty auburn hair was pushing a trolley over towards her. Katya examined her fair skin and astonishing green eyes. She was shaken out of her reverie by the girl.

"Well, I just noticed that you had a Hogwarts sticker on your trunk and well," She paused looking embarrassed, "I was wondering if you could tell me how to get on the platform 9 ¾ because this is my first year and you looked so sure."

The girl faded off. Katya smiled shyly.

"Of course. This is my first year too. I just know how because my parents went to Hogwarts. They told me all about it. Katya Bonaccio, by the way." Katya stuck out her hand. The girl took it, smiling.

"Lily Evans. Pleased to make your acquaintance." Together, they walked through the barrier and onto the platform.

Katya gasped as she entered the platform. It was filled with people: parents of nervous looking children, older kids chatting animatedly with their friends, siblings running this way and that.

She looked over to see Lily's mouth hanging open too.

"You're going to catch a lot of flies like that." Katya giggled. Lily quickly shut her mouth but continued to gaze around in awe.

Suddenly, she grabbed Katya's hand and said, "I see my friend Severus. You have to meet him. He is so nice."

She dragged Katya over towards a scowling young boy with sallow skin and greasy black hair. Lily quickly made introductions. Katya decided to test out Severus' sense of fun and curtsied dramatically.

"I am so very pleased to make your acquaintance Master Snape." She said snobbily. She grinned as he replied in nearly the same tone.

"And I yours Mademoiselle Bonaccio."

Katya was glad to see that Severus could joke around. At that moment the train blew its whistle, signaling boarding time. Katya, Lily and Severus dashed over and slid inside. They lugged their trunks to an empty compartment and sat down in the seats, out of breath.

"Ugh, I need to get in shape." Lily moaned.

"You? Katya laughed," You are in way better shape than me. Do you see all this baby fat I have on me?"

She pinched the skin on her thin arms. Severus snorted before composing his face again. There was a slight knock on their compartment door and four boys walked in.

The first was tall with messy black hair and a mischievous smile. The second was astonishingly handsome with shaggy black hair and piercing grey eyes. Katya felt herself blush a little until he winked at her and then she scowled. 'He's handsome and he knows it.' She thought.

Next came a tall boy with blondish hair and hazel green eyes. He had a tired but kind smile on his small face. Last was a little mouse of a boy with buck teeth and big watery brown eyes.

The first boy smiled and stuck out his hand.

"James Potter at your service. These here are my mates, Peter," he pointed at the mousy boy who grinned nervously, "Remus," he waved his hand at the tall blonde boy, "and..."

"hold up mate," the last handsome boy interrupted, "I can introduce myself. I am Sirius Black."

Lily smiled.

"Cool. I'm Lily Evans. This is my new friend Katya Bonaccio and this is my long time friend Severus Snape."

Katya looked up at the four boys through her mass of loose hair. Remus gave her a nice smile and she grinned back.

"You are friends with HIM?" Sirius asked in disbelief.

"Yah so what?" Lily responded defensively, "He's my friend and I am sure he is way nicer than you."

Katya brushed back her hair. She glared up at Sirius. "You know Lily, I am almost positive Severus is way nicer than Mr. Black."

Sirius rolled his eyes and looked at James. James gestured to the four empty seats and the boys all sat down.

Katya and Lily turned away from them and struck up a conversation with Severus.

"You know James," Sirius said loudly, "I have always thought it was kind of rude to ignore people in the same room as you."

James smirked, "I agree Sirius. You are really supposed to include people in a conversation."

Lily grimaced and turned back to them.

"I would like to have a conversation if you could be nice to my friends. If not... then no."

Katya snorted and slipped Lily a high five. Sirius and James rolled their eyes and turned away.

The two groups kept up their own conversations for a little while. They stopped talking and just ate when the food trolley came around. Katya and Severus had lots of fun showing Lily all of the wizard sweets. It seemed funny to them that she could never have heard of a chocolate frog.

Lily and Katya were giggling about Severus' face when he ate a grass flavored Bertie Botts when they heard a knocking on the window of their compartment.

Katya looked up in surprise.

"That's my family's owl, Jewel. I wonder what she is doing here."

She slid open the window and pulled Jewel inside. She untied the letter and fumbled around for a quill with which to open it.

She pulled out the letter and read it silently. Her face filled with horror as her eyes flitted over the parchment.

"What is it Bonaccio, did your cat run away?" Sirius joked half seriously.

Katya just glared at him, her eyes filled with tears. She jumped up and ran out of the compartment, dropping the letter in the process.

Lily snatched it out of the way of Sirius and read it quickly. Her eyes filled with compassion as she finished the letter. It read...

_Dear Katya,_

_I am sorry but as soon as we got home, we saw that something was wrong. Our door was open but not forced. No lights were on. When we got inside, we saw nothing at first. Then we noticed that our living room and your room had been ripped apart. Someone had been here searching for something. Oh Katya, Neeli is gone. We can't find her anywhere. We have alerted the Ministry and all of our family to keep a look out for her. There were signs of a struggle. There is little hope Katya. The Ministry believes that You-Know-Who was somehow involved. Please pray for Neeli. Don't do anything rash. We love you._

_Love,_

_Your dearest Daddy_

Lily got up quickly and ran out after Katya.

"What was that all about?" Remus wondered. James shrugged and closed his eyes.

Sirius, on the other hand, looked after Katya with something akin to worry in his eyes. He shook his head. 'What am I thinking? This is Katya, the girl who glared at you before she knew your name. I can't be feeling bad for. There is no way that I like her.'

After shoving any betraying thoughts to the back of his head, Sirius too closed his eyes.

Back in present time:

"So," Katya finished telling Remus, "I just knew that he was going to be a bastard. As life went on, he really developed into a womanizing ass. I just don't think he knows how to say something remotely nice."

"Katya," Remus sighed, "You should give him a chance. No one else hates him. Except maybe Snape. Try to be nice, please. I am sorry about your sister but you just made him angry."

Katya knew Remus was right. She was being immature. Remus had put it bluntly up front. 'That's what I needed. A little push in the right direction.'

"I will give him a chance. But if he says anything remotely annoying I will be very hard pressed not to tell him off."

Lily giggled. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Don't encourage her Lils. As long as you are trying."

Remus stood up and pulled Lily and Katya to their feet.

"What a perfect gentleman," Katya said, "You will someone a great boyfriend."

Katya had never had any desire to date Remus and she knew he had no feelings for her other than friendship.

"Perfect gentleman my foot," Lily scoffed, "Come guys lets go. I am hungry and have got some galleons to spend."

Remus mocked glared and punched her shoulder. Lily gasped in fake pain and "swooned" to the floor.

"Oh the pain," she moaned, "AHHHHH"

That was when James walked in.

"Remus what did you do to her?" he asked, agonized, "Lilykins, are you okay? What happened?"

He swooped down to help her and she pushed him off, embarrassed. Katya and Remus bent over laughing.

"Come on guys," Katya hiccupped, "Let's get back to our compartment. We are almost home."

**End Chapter 2. I hope you liked the story of Katya's past. It makes everything a lot easier to understand. WOW! This chapter was over 2,000 words. I just got carried away. I will update a few more times this weekend (maybe). The homework load may slow me down. Review por favor, ****si****vous****plais, ****please! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Whoa. It has been a loooonnnggg time since I have updated. Talk about procrastination… anyway, not to delay your reading any longer, here goes nothing. (ps. I will try to make it less…cheesy)**

Chapter 3

_Previously: __He swooped down to help her and she pushed him off, embarrassed. Katya and Remus bent over _

_laughing."Come on guys," Katya hiccupped, "Let's get back to our compartment. We are almost home."_

It seemed like little to no time before the train was pulling up to the Hogsmeade Station. Katya glanced out the window and sighed. 'My last year at Hogwarts," she thought miserably, "After this it's straight out into the real world."

Glancing around, she noticed that James and Lily had headed off to direct all of the younger students. She could hear Hagrid bellowing outside. With a fake sniffle she turned to Remus, "Our last train ride here! Our last time to ride the carriages! I don't want it to END!"

Through her lashes, she saw Remus' face of horror. He reached out a tentative hand, "Hey now, it's, uh, it's okay."

That was all Katya could handle she snorted then burst out laughing. "Remus, if you could have seen your face! You were so confused."

Remus simply rolled his eyes as Katya continued to laugh by herself. With a few last giggles, she managed to pull herself together. Her face red, Katya grabbed Remus' arm and marched him off of the train and out to the carriages. There, they saw Sirius, Peter, and Lily and Katya's roommate, Ellie Montgomery (Monty for short). With an excited squeal, Monty leapt out of the carriage and ran to hug Katya.

"Katy! I missed you so much this summer! I bet your summer was so exciting. I spent mine at my uncle's house in Normandy. Of course, he does have an absolutely brilliant library. I didn't even get half way through it. Speaking of books, I found this beautiful book that you would love. It has the neatest descriptions and all this fantastic information in it. However, the only problem with staying at my uncle's is that he has the giant slobbering bloody annoying dog that follows you everywhere you go. If you even _think_ about sitting down it will come right away and put its great bloody head in your lap and let loose a torrent of slobber. The dumb beast is absolutely horrifying!"

With a few giant hand gestures, Monty finally shut up, nearly panting from her speech. Katya was all too familiar with her tirades. Small and booky she may be, but quiet and shy she was not. Finally able to get a word in, Katya said,

"Hello to you too, Monty. Yes my summer was very nice. I spent the first few weeks at home though. After that I got to go see my cousin Lydia in Greece and stayed there up until these past two weeks. It was gorgeous. " Katya sighed, remembering the blue Mediterranean and comparing it to the harsh waters of the English Channel.

Taking advantage of Katya's silence Monty grabbed her and pulled her into the carriage. It was only till she had shoved her into a seat that Monty noticed Remus. Uncharacteristically quiet, she murmured, "Oh, hi Remus."

Remus smiled and quickly sat down next to Sirius. Confused, Katya looked between the two. Then she saw it, an unusual red tint was creeping slowly up Monty's neck. A look of comprehension dawned on Katya's face but she decided to keep her friends confidence and said nothing to the constantly oblivious Peter or the unaware Sirius.

~'~'~'~

The whole school was sitting patiently, waiting for the sorting to start. Katya looked around her. Monty was chatting enthusiastically with Lily. Remus was clearly trying to explain something to Peter. James and Sirius had their heads together, plotting no doubt. Feeling a little left out, Katya simply rested her head on her hands and closed her eyes.

Katya woke to the sound of clapping. Her hair had fallen down and was tumbling down her back. Sleepily she looked around. Dumbledore was just sitting down. 'He must have finished his beginning of the year speech. WAIT! That means I missed the sorting.'

"Monty! Lily! Why didn't you wake me up?" She whined.

"They would have," Sirius said, "But you just looked so peaceful that we, being James and me, thought you could do with a nap."

"Yeah right," Katya muttered. She knew better. They probably took advantage of her lack of attention to do some ghastly prank to commemorate their last year. She knew them way better than that. However, she wasn't about to ruin their fun so she let it go. Anyway, there was no time to berate them as the food was appearing now.

Finally finished with their conversation, Lily and Monty turned to Katya. Deciding to be mischievous Katya looked at Monty.

"Sooo," She said, "Monty, what is going on with you and our friend Mr. Lupin?"

In reply, Monty glared at her and turned back to her mashed potatoes. Lily was having none of that though. She looked expectantly at Monty, who simply glowered at her broccoli.

"I guess we will have to resort to more painful methods then." Lily said, looking meaningfully at Katya. Both of them grinned evilly. Monty gave a high pitched squeak of terror and slid as low as possible on the bench.

"Guys.." It came out as a squeal, "ahem, guys, maybe it would be better if we waited for some, erm, privacy?" Lily simply rolled her eyes.

"Privacy, Schmivacy. Plus I won't even be in the dorm with you this year. REMEMBER…head girl." And with that Katya and Lily advanced to tickly into submission the poor and unfortunate Monty.

**There you go. Review. PLEAASEE! Snaps for whoever does.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Another chapter. I am feeling so accomplished. Except that there are people who post every day… But still. Here you go!**

Chapter 4

"_Guys.." It came out as a squeal, "ahem, guys, maybe it would be better if we waited for some, erm, privacy?" Lily simply rolled her eyes. _

"_Privacy, Schmivacy. Plus I won't even be in the dorm with you this year. REMEMBER…head girl." And with that Katya and Lily advanced to tickly into submission the poor and unfortunate Monty._

Katya looked around her dorm, unaware that she was sighing. Monty looked at her curiously.

"Sad?" She asked. Katya scrunched up her nose.

"No, I mean, yes, but…I don't know." She flopped unceremoniously down onto her bed, "I am excited to go out into the world, but I am sad to leave Hogwarts and everything in it. I am ready for some responsibility, but I am nervous about screwing it up. I can't wait to get a full time job, but I want to stay with all of my friends forever. Does that make any sense?"

Monty raised an eyebrow and snorted, "Not at all. You think too much."

Rolling her eyes, Katya replied, "I couldn't expect you to understand. You have the sympathy of a troll and the emotional capacity of an acorn."

Monty put on an offended face. "Excuse me, Ms. I-have-no-understanding-for-a-crush-and-I-haven't-had-a-boyfriend-for-longer-than-a-month-and-refuse-to-be-nice-to-Sirius-simply-because-I-can't-let-go-of-a-grudge."

"Oh yeah," Katya replied viciously, actually angry at the mention of her self-proclaimed nemesis "Well this has nothing to do with me, Ms. I-won't-do-anything-about-my-crush-because-I-am-too-scared-to-get-hurt-and-won't-make-a-commitment-because-it-might-get-in-the-way-of-my-precious-study-time-which-would-kill-me-because-I-have-no-social-life-and-would-be-utterly-bored."

"You know what?" Monty nearly shouted.

"What?" Katya hissed.

"Go…go…go away!"

"Well you know what?"

"WHAT?" Monty now bellowed.

"Just…stay away from me."

And with that, both girls blinked furiously at each other before collapsing into fits of hysterical laughter.

Katya wiped her eyes and held her stomach as Monty folded in half. After nearly five minutes, their laughter subsided to an occasional giggle or hiccup.

Monty lay spread-eagle on the floor and smiled to herself, not quite to the sinking feeling that is experienced after laughter is finished.

And that was how Lily found them, having already unpacked in the heads dorm and wanting to escape James Potter as quickly as possible. She knew better than to ask any questions. So, being the responsible one, she flicked her wand and watched her friends trunks unpack themselves.

It was much later when Lily, Katya, and Monty decided to venture out of the 7th year girls dorm. There was hardly anyone in the common room. The younger students had headed off early to bed as usual and the few stragglers left were chatting quietly in the little circles of armchairs.

The group of students that stood out the most to the three best friends was most decidedly the Marauders. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all sprawled out across the couches around the fire place, laughing and talking.

Monty, never one to be shy, bounded over quickly, a large smile plastered on her little face.

"Hello fellow 7th years!" she said excitedly, interrupting whatever James was about to say, "And may I ask how your summer was?"

With that, she flopped onto the couch next to Remus and stared challengingly at Katya and Lily, daring them to say anything. They simply shrugged and went to sit next to each other on the floor in front of the fire.

Katya looked around at the group in front of her. Monty was chatting amiably with James while Lily and Sirius were attempting to strike up a conversation with the always socially awkward Peter. Remus, well, Remus was looking decidedly out of place, red in the face and glancing over at Monty every so often.

Katya smiled knowingly at him the next time his eyes glanced her direction. If possible, he went even redder. She got up slowly and went over to his couch. With a wink, she squeezed herself on the opposite side of Monty, forcing Monty and Remus to squeeze in together.

As painfully obvious as her act was, no one but Remus and Monty realized Katya's intentions.

"You realize I hate you, right?" Monty hissed at her, "You big bloody git."

Remus finally looked at her in surprise.

"What?" He asked, completely confused.

"Oh, not you. It's Katya, er…well, she, um…Whatever. I wasn't talking to you." Monty huffed, glaring around at all of her friends, now listening intently to every word that was said.

'My mission is complete.' Katya thought to herself contently.

She turned to James and grinned innocently.

"Hello mate! What's been going on with you?"

And with a scoff, James began to renegade Katya with stories of his summer break. Lily and Sirius had slowly stopped trying to include Peter. Both Monty and Remus had accio'd books from there rooms and were intent on ignoring each other.

Therefore it was easy for Peter to slowly extract himself from their circle and "sneak" out of the common room as quickly and quietly as he could.

No one noticed Peter as he crept down the dark hallways. Even Mrs. Norris disregarded him as he passed her. In fact, it was as if he were invisible until he reached the lowest level of the dungeons, close to the Slytherin common room.

Only there did he let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding.

A hand reached out in the darkness and gripped his shoulder. With a terrified squeal, Peter jumped around to look into the face of a seventh year Slytherin girl. She sneered down at him. Her long dark hair perfectly complemented an olive skin tone and dark, deep-set eyes.

"Peter," She said, her voice low but melodic, "I am surprised to see you here, this being the first day of the school year. I did not realize that you were so…dedicated to…the cause."

"Yes." Peter managed to squeak out. The girl gripped Peter's shoulder with one slender hand and led him down the dark hallway, paying no attention to his shudders or obvious reluctance to go anywhere with her, especially towards a place where he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face.

However, Peter had no choice. His mind was made up and he had no way to get out of anything he had done.

**Hope you enjoyed it. Another chapter should be out in the next week or so. *hopefully***

**-Addie**


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